The  Great  opportunity 


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North  Carolina 

The  Great  Opportunity 


ALEXANDER  W.  CRAWFORD 

Superintendent  of  Home  Missions  of  the 
Presbyterian  Synod  of  North  Carolina 


The  Home  Mission  Committee  of  the  Synod  of  North  Carolina 
in  connection  with  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 
United  States,  Inc. 


JOS.  J.  STONE  &  COMPANY 
Greensboro,  N.  C. 
1923 


North  Carolina — the  Great  Opportunity 

The  Great  Development. 

The  Great  Need. 

The  Peculiar  Access. 

The  Great  System  of  Mission  Work. 

The  Great  Movement. 


North  Carolina— 

The  Great  Opportunity 


THE  GREAT  DEVELOPMENT 

The  rapid  growth  and  development  of  North 
Carolina  is  attracting  notice  everywhere,  outside 
of  the  state. 

The  big  metropolitan  dailies,  like  the  New  York 
Times,  and  magazines  of  high  standing,  like  the 
Manufacturers  Becord,  are  telling  the  story  to  the 
world. 

The  New  York  Times:* 

"It  ever  a  commonwealth  went  in  head  over 
heels,  to  boom  and  develop  itself,  that  common- 
wealth is  the  Old  North  State.  That  which  has  hit 
North  Carolina  is  not  even  a  forty-seventh  cousin 
of  the  old  time  western  boom.  It  is  a  financial, 
industrial,  commercial  regeneration. " 

The  Manufacturers  Eecord:t 

"•North  Carolina  is  one  of  the  most  prosperous 
states  of  the  Union.  It  is  developing,  industrially, 
commercially,  agriculturally,  with  amazing  ra- 
pidity. ' ' 

GROWTH  IN  POPULATION 

In  the  census  period  1910  to  1920,  the  increase  of 
the  whole  United  States  was  15%,  including  large 
bodies  of  immigrants  from  foreign  lands.    In  North 


*  James  Arthur  Seavey,  Staff  Correspondent,  New  York 
Times,  October  22,  1922. 

t  Manufacturers  Record,  Editorial,  September  21,  1922. 


Carolina,  with  practically  no  immigration  from  for- 
eign lands,  the  increase  was  greater,  namely,  16%: 
from  2,206,287  in  1910  to  2,559,123  in  1920.  In- 
crease 352,836. 

This  corresponds  with  the  fact  that  the  birth 
rate  in  North  Carolina  is  the  highest  of  any  state 
in  the  Union  (in  1921  33  8/10  per  thousand),  while 
the  death  rate  is  among  the  lowest  (11  9/10  per 
thousand  of  the  population  in  1921). 

CHARACTER  OF  THE  POPULATION— NATIVE 
AMERICAN  NOT  FOREIGN  STOCK 

North  Carolina  has  the  largest  per  cent  of 
native  American  stock  and  the  smallest  per  cent  of 
foreign  stock  of  any  state  in  the  Union.  The  cen- 
sus of  1920  shows  the  following  startling  facts: 

New  York  City  has  76%  of  foreign  stock. 

Boston  has  73%  of  foreign  stock. 

Chicago  has  72%  of  foreign  stock. 

In  the  ten  largest  cities  of  the  United  States 
66%  of  population  is  of  foreign  stock.  Nine  of  the 
states  have  more  than  half  of  the  population  of 


foreign  stock,  namely: 

Rhode  Island  69% 

Massachusetts  68% 
Connecticut  and  North  Dakota  65% 

New  York  62% 

Wisconsin  59% 

New  Jersey  58% 

Michigan  53% 

Illinois  50% 


The  New  England  States  together  60% 


Foreign  stock  includes  those  who  were  themselves  born 
in  foreign  lands  or  whose  parents  were  born  in  foreign 
lands. 

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Outside  of  the  South  the  foreign  stock  is 
48  2/10%,  or  nearly  half  of  the  total  population. 

In  the  whole  South  it  is  8%.    The  lowest  states: 

Virginia  3% 

Alabama       2  2/10% 

Georgia        1  6/10% 

Mississippi    1  5/10% 

South  Carolina  1% 

North  Carolina  7/10  of  1%,  the  smallest  in  the 
Union. 

GROWTH  IN  AGRICULTURE 

In  1919  North  Carolina  stood  twelfth  in  the 
Union  in  the  total  value  of  crop  production. 

In  1920  it  climbed  in  one  year  to  sixth  place  and 
in  1921  to  fifth  place,  only  four  states  surpassing 
it  in  the  total  value  of  crops  grown,  namely: 
Texas  first  place,  California  second,  Illinois  third, 
New  York  fourth.  To  appreciate  this  the  size  of 
North  Carolina  must  be  remembered.  While  fifth 
in  value  of  crop  production,  it  is  twenty-seventh  in 
size,  having  a  total  area  of  52,426  square  miles,  of 
which  3,686  square  miles  are  water  surface,  48,740 
square  miles  land  surface. 

GROWTH  IN  MANUFACTURES 

In  1910  North  Carolina  was  the  twenty-seventh 
state  in  the  Union  in  the  value  of  its  manufactured 
products. 

In  1914  it  had  climbed  to  the  eighteenth  place 
and  in  1920  to  the  fifteenth  place. 

It  now  leads  all  Southern  States  except  Texas 
and  all  New  England  States  except  Connecticut  and 
Massachusetts. 


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It  leads  the  South  in  cotton  manufacture  and 
leads  the  Union  in  the  number  of  cotton  mills. 

The  largest  hosiery  mill  in  the  world  is  at 
Durham. 

The  largest  towel  mill  in  the  world  is  at  Kan- 
napolis. 

The  largest  denim  mill  in  the  world  is  at  Greens- 
boro. 

The  largest  damask  mill  in  the  world  is  at 
Eoanoke  Rapids. 

The  three  chief  items  of  manufacture  are  to- 
bacco, cotton  and  furniture. 

Tobacco  manufacture  centers  in  Winston-Salem 
and  Durham. 

Furniture  manufacture  centers  chieflv  about 
High  Point.  Hard  wood,  of  which  the  furniture  is 
made,  in  the  western  section,  and  pine  in  the  east- 
ern section,  together  yield  the  largest  supply  in  all 
Eastern  United  States,  the  total  only  surpassed  by 
Louisiana,  Mississippi,  Alabama  and  Arkansas,  in 
the  South,  and  Washington  and  Oregon. 

The  cotton  manufacture,  while  more  laroelv  dis- 
tributed,  centers  largely  in  the  central  southern 
section  about  Charlotte  and  Gastonia.  The  town  of 
Gastonia  alone  has  49  cotton  mills,  and  the  morning 
papers  of  October  4,  1922,  reported  the  organization 
of  the  100th  cotton  mill  in  Gaston  County.  While 
we  write  this  the  morning  papers  of  December  5, 
1922,  announce  the  103rd. 

HYDRO-ELECTRIC  POWER 

Xorth  Carolina  ?s  handicap  in  manufacture  was 
in  lack  of  coal,  while  states  to  the  north  of  us 
were  booming  in  their  development  with  the  un- 


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earthing  of  their  untold  power  in  coal.  We  have 
discovered  that  all  the  while  there  was  a  greater 
hydro-electric  power  undeveloped  at  our  own  doors. 
We  know  now  that  no  other  state  in  the  eastern 
section,  except  New  York,  excells  us  in  this  respect. 

The  width  of  the  state  from  mountain  top  to  coast 
is  great,  503  miles.  The  area  from  mountain  top  to 
the  "Fall  Line, 99  the  boundary  between  " Pied- 
mont 99  and  "Coastal  Plain, 9 9  which  affords  the 
area  for  drainage,  is  great.  Hence  the  length,  the 
regular  flow  and  the  great  fall  of  its  rivers  and  the 
enormous  hydro-electric  power  for  the  running  of 
its  factories  and  the  lighting  of  its  cities. 

The  horsepower  available  is  estimated  by  the 
most  conservative  engineers  at  1,000,000.  Other 
engineers  estimate  as  much  as  twice  that  amount. 
About  one-third  of  the  most  conservative  estimate, 
namely,  360,000  horsepower,  has  been  developed 
and  with  that  the  present  great  development  of  the 
state  has  proceeded.  Full  twice  as  much  is  yet 
unharnessed. 

THE  OUTLOOK 

Three  unique  features  indicate  what  is  before 
us  to  conservative  observers  without,  like  the  great 
dailies,  and  the  magazines  of  high  standing,  and  to 
friends  within. 

1.  The  raw  materials  for  our  factories  are 
giown  on  our  own  soil:  the  cotton,  the  tobacco,  the 
hard  wood  and  pine  lumber. 

2.  The  inexhaustible  hydro-electric  power 
which  we  have  just  well  begun  to  harness. 

Instead  of  exhausting  our  raw  materials  and 
our  power,  we  increase  our  wealth  by  stimu- 
lation of  the  growth  of  the  products  of  the  soil  and 


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the  wealth  of  power  is  ever  being  renewed  by  the 
rains  of  heaven. 

*"  While  other  states  are  using  np  their  iron 
ore  and  glass  sand,  their  coal  and  their  gas  fuel, 
North  Carolina  goes  ahead  making  its  material  and 
its  power  from  its  constant  resources,  and  it  is  the 
one  state  in  the  Union  that  has  its  manufacturing 
industries  based  on  a  permanent  source  of  power 
and  material. 

3.  By  no  means  the  least  of  the  three  unique 
features  of  the  present  outlook  is  the  character  and 
amount  of  the  supply  of  labour  for  our  factories. 
The  manufacturers  of  the  Xorth  have  to  look  largely 
to  immigration.  Hence  the  unrest,  the  dissatisfac- 
tion, the  introduction  of  all  kinds  of  evil  and  crime. 
We  have  a  law-abiding  native  born  people  increas- 
ing with  marvelous  rapidity,  more -rapidly  than  the 
country  as  a  whole,  and  that  without  immigration. 

There  is  no  state  immigration  office.  The  senti- 
ment is  against  alien  labour  for  our  farms  and  fac- 
tories. There  is  no  appreciable  conflict  between 
capital  and  labour  except  where  fomented  and 
financed  from  without.  "The  white  farm  tenant 
population  could  well  afford  double  the  present  fac- 
tory supply,  which  would  mean  an  increase  of  ten 
fold  in  factory  production."  (Dr.  Branson.)  Man- 
ufacturers elsewhere  are  seeking  just  such  labour 
conditions  as  we  supply,  the  large  local  native  born 
white  population,  especially  in  our  milder  climate 
where  conditions  of  living  are  more  favourable  and 
the  cost  of  living  less. 


*  Bion  H.  Butler,  in  Universitv  News  Letter,  Septem- 
ber 13th,  1922. 


S 


THE  HIGHWAY  DEVELOPMENT 


In  no  other  state  except  Pennsylvania  is  there 
anything  like  North  Carolina  ?s  highway  building. 
The  legislature  of  1919  authorized  the  expenditure 
of  $50,000,000  for  permanent  highways.  This  with 
the  amounts  voted  by  the  counties  and  the  aid  from 
the  federal  government  gives  approximately  $100,- 
000,000.  The  State  Highway  Commission  have  in 
hand  the  building  of  6,051  miles  of  modern  high- 
ways in  the  state.  16,000  men  are  employed  in  the 
work  and  they  are  completing  about  5  miles  a  day. 
The  work  is  going  forward  at  a  cost  of  approxi- 
mately $100,000  a  day  and  $25,000,000  a  year,  look- 
ing to  the  completion  of  the  system  now  planned  by 
1925. 

DEVELOPMENT  IN  EDUCATION 

The  most  noticeable  thing  to  one  who  constantly 
travels  the  state  is  the  new  school  buildings.  Hand- 
some, modern  brick  buildings  meet  you  everywhere. 
This  has  been  made  possible  in  part  by  the  growth 
of  the  consolidated  school. 

$4,000,000  was  expended  by  the  state  for  ele- 
mentary public  schools  in  1914. 

$16,000,000  was  expended  for  elementary  public 
schools  in  1921-22,  a  four-fold  increase  in  eight 
years. 

$42,000,000  was  voted  and  expended  for  public 
education  in  a  single  year,  June  30th,  1921,  to  July 
1st,  1922. 

$6,000,000  to  $7,000,000  is  now  being  expended 
by  the  state  for  new  buildings  for  its  university 
and  state  colleges,  with  $20,000,000  as  the  ultimate 
plan. 

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In  four  years  illiteracy  has  been  reduced  from 
18  5/10%  of  the  population  of  ten  years  and  older, 
to  13  1/10%.  While  the  illiteracy  of  the  whole  pop- 
ulation is  more  than  the  average,  the  percentage  for 
the  white  population,  8  2/10%,  is  not  much  greater 
than  that  for  the  whole  United  States,  6  1/10%,  and 
the  development  of  our  educational  system  has  just 
begun  to  show  effects.  We  have  caught  the  pace. 
We  only  need  to  keep  it. 

THE  RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

Greater  than  every  other  element  of  develop- 
ment, population,  agriculture,  manufactures,  hydro- 
electric power,  highways,  even  greater  than  educa- 
tion, is  the  problem  of  the  religious  development — 
the  growth  of  the  Kingdom  of  God.  For  some 
things  here  we  can  thank  God:  While  the  growth 
of  the  population  in  North  Carolina  was  16%,  1910 
to  1920,  the  growth  in  membership  of  some  of  the 
larger  denominations  from  1906  to  1916,  the  times 
of  the  taking  of  the  religious  census,  was  as  fol- 
lows (the  government  figures) : 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  in  North 
Carolina,  from  151,808  in  1906  to  199,764  in  1916, 
a  growth  of  47,954,  or  31  6/10%. 

The  Southern  Baptist  Convention  in  North  Car- 
olina, from  202,798  in  1906  to  279,112  in  1916,  a 
growth  of  76,314  or  37  6/10%. 

The  Presbyterian  Church,  U.  S.,  in  North  Caro- 
lina, from  41,322  in  1906  to  57,836  in  1916,  a  growth 
of  16,514,  or  40%. 

This  is  the  brightest  spot  in  all  the  development 
of  our  fair  state,  that  the  percentage  of  growth  of 
the  Kingdom  of  God  has  been  from  two  to  two  and 


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one-half  times  the  percentage  of  growth  of  the  pop- 
ulation. 

The  growth  of  the  churches  in  all  the  South  has 
been  greater  than  elsewhere  in  the  United  States, 
but  in  North  Carolina  greater  than  for  the  balance 
of  the  South.  Compare: 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  for  the 
whole  church,  growth  29  1/10%;  for  North  Caro- 
lina 31  6/10%. 

Southern  Baptist  Convention,  for  the  whole 
church,  growth  34  8/10%;  for  North  Carolina, 
37  6/10%. 

Presbyterian  Church  U.  S.  (South)  for  the  whole 
church,  growth  34  3/10%;  for  North  Carolina,  40%. 

THE  GREAT  NEED 

We  do  well  to  rejoice  at  the  great  development 
now  going  on  in  every  department  in  our  state,  but 
if  so  elated  that  we  lose  sight  of  the  undeveloped 
resources  and  the  need  it  would  be  the  profoundest 
folly.    In  its  material  development  see: 

IN  AGRICULTURE 

North  Carolina,  Illinois  and  Iowa  are  of  about 
the  same  area.  Iowa  has  28,000,000  acres  under  cul- 
tivation; Illinois,  27,000,000;  North  Carolina,  8,- 
000,000. 

While  in  the  very  forefront  in  the  production 
of  cotton,  tobacco,  lumber,  we  are  importing  48% 
of  food  which  we  consume  and  of  that  which  is 
consumed  by  the  live  stock  of  the  state,  not  count- 
ing dainties  and  luxuries  of  diet,  and  thus  sending 
$232,227,000  (1920)  to  the  farmers  of  the  North  and 

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West  for  food  and  feed  which  we  could  grow  on 
cur  own  soil. 

IN  MANUFACTURES 

Only  about  one-half  of  the  present  available 
native  labour  supply  and  one-third  of  the  available 
hydro-electric  power  is  being  utilized. 

IN  EDUCATION 

Including  our  negro  population.  24xo%  of  whom 
ten  vears  and  older  are  illiterate,  we  vet  rank  forty- 
first,  the  eighth  from  the  lowest,  with  a  total  per- 
centage of  13  1  10%  illiterate,  ten  years  and  over, 
surpassed    only    by    Georgia    15  3,  10%,  Arizona 

15  3/10 9c,     Xew     Mexico     15  6/10%,  Alabama 

16  1/10%,  Mississippi  17  2/10 %,  South  Carolina 
18  1/10%,  and  Louisiana  21  9/10%. 

Of  the  native  white  stock  S  2  10%  over  ten  are 
illiterate,  surpassed  only  by  Louisiana  10  5/10%, 
and  Xew  Mexico  11 6/10%,  while  the  average  of 
the  native  white  stock  for  the  whole  United  States 
is  2%. 

Tn  per  capita  public  school  expenditures  in  1919- 
20,  we  ranked  forty-fifth  place,  expending  63.74  per 
capita,  as  compared  with  $20.57  for  Xorth  Dakota, 
which  stood  at  the  top;  only  three  states  spending 
less  per  capita:  Mississippi  63.53.  Georgia  $3.46. 
South  Carolina  $2.60. 

THE   GREAT  NEED:  RELIGIOUS 

Deeply  as  we  are  concerned  in  our  need  in  agri- 
culture, in  manufactures,  and  especially  in  educa- 
tion, that  which  concerns  us  most  vitally  is  our 
religious  need. 

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Deducting  28%  of  our  total  population  for  chil- 
dren under  ten  years,  of  the  remainder,  ten  years 
and  older,  the  religious  census  showed  649,237  who 
claimed  no  connection  with  any  religious  organiza- 
tion, or  38%  of  all  of  those  ten  years  old  and  over. 
Keligious  bodies,  in  the  census,  includes  Mormons 
and  everything  that  calls  itself  religious,  Christian 
or  non-Christian.  Adding  to  this  38%  in  the  whole 
state,  those  which  we  do  not  recognize  as  Christian 
and  those  on  the  church  rolls  who  would  not  them- 
selves claim  to  have  a  right  there,  we  face  the  fact 
that  not  one-half  of  our  people  are  Christians.  Six- 
teen counties  reported  in  the  census  more  than  50% 
connected  with  no  religious  body;  four  counties 
more  than  60%;  one  county,  69%. 

Where  are  these  people? 

1.  Eight  about  in  our  own  homes,  often  those 
in  our  own  kitchens,  the  clerks  in  our  own  employ, 
our  near  neighbor  or  business  associates.  We  take 
too  much  for  granted.  By  personal  work  with  those 
who  are  in  physical  reach  of  us  we  need  to  know 
where  they  stand. 

A  careful  exact  canvass  by  any  church  of  its 
own  immediate  surroundings  will  reveal  many  cases 
which  they  did  not  know  or  of  whom  they  did  not 
think.  Such  canvass  should  be  often  made.  This 
is  G-od's  first  call  to  us. 

2.  The  great  teeming  multitudes  who  are  being 
gathered  into  our  mill  villages.  They  are  our  own 
American  stock.  They  were  tenants  on  our  farms, 
or  from  the  little  worn  out  farm  in  a  back  country 
district,  or  from  the  little  almost  inaccessible  home 
in  the  mountain  valley.    They  were  many  of  them 


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almost  inaccessible  in  their  old  places.  Now  they 
are  massed  together  in  great  bodies  where  we  can 
reach  them  and  where  their  children  can  be  reached 
and  the  call  of  God  to  us  is  great  and  strong  and 
clear. 

3.  The  whole  counties  and  sections  of  counties, 
occupied  by  those  of  a  religious  faith  which  had 
no  place  for  Sunday  Schools  or  mission  work  or  the 
pressing  of  the  offer  of  a  free  salvation  in  Christ 
Jesus.  Though  influenced  yet  by  the  faith  of  their 
fathers  thev  are  in  the  main  without  church  con- 
nection.  A  Sunday  School  is  a  revelation  to  them. 
With  the  coming  of  the  new  development,  in  agri- 
culture, in  education,  they  are  turning  to  the  light. 
They  are  in  the  main  people  of  strong  character. 
A  strong  accentuation  of  the  sovereignty  of  God  in 
their  old  faith,  even  if  it  was  carried  to  the  extreme 
of  fatalism,  did  develop  strong  types  of  character. 
They  occupy  some  of  the  most  fertile  sections  of 
the  state,  many  of  them  well  to  do,  but  often  less 
than  a  half  dozen  out  of  the  hundred  of  church 
age  in  any  church. 

Here  too  God's  call  to  us  in  North  Carolina  is 
great  and  strong  and  clear. 

THE  PECULIAR  ACCESS 

1.    OUR  PRESBYTERIAN  DOCTRINE 

The  large  bodies  just  above  mentioned,  occu- 
pying whole  counties  and  sections  of  counties,  re- 
ceive us  with  peculiar  favor  because  we  preach  the 
sovereignty  of  God  as  their  fathers  did.  They  car- 
ried it  beyond  the  teaching  of  God's  word  to  fatal- 


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ism.  We  mingle  it  with  the  free  offer  of  God's 
salvation  in  Christ  Jesus  and  we  have  the  access  to 
them  as  no  other  church  has.  The  barriers  are  the 
more  easily  broken  down.  The  Sunday  School 
meets  the  great  hunger  of  child  life  and  the  young 
people  and  we  do  get  the  hold. 

2.  THE  PRESTIGE  OF  OUR  CHURCH 

Our  fathers  won  it  for  us.  They  may  not  have 
emphasized  evangelism  as  we  do  today,  but  by  their 
stand  for  a  high  order  of  church  membership  and 
ministry  they  won  for  our  church  the  peculiar  con- 
fidence of  men. 

Today  go  where  we  may  in  North  Carolina  the 
way  is  open  to  us.  Those  of  us  who  have  worked 
in  sections  of  the  new  west  know  the  contrast.  We 
had  to  earn  there  what  our  fathers  left  us  here  as 
our  heritage. 

Other  churches  larger  have  a  much  larger  fol- 
lowing of  their  own  people.  But  we  believe  none 
has  greater  if  any  so  great  access  to  the  unchurched. 

3.  THE  NATIVE  AMERICAN  STOCK. 

We  do  not  have  to  deal  with  the  foreigner  with 
the  peculiar  conditions  which  surround  him,  difficult 
of  approach,  often  suspicious,  often  criminal.  These 
are  our  own  people,  from  our  own  farms  and  reared 
on  the  same  soil  and  mainly  under  conditions  the 
same  as  our  own.  The  immigrant  problem  is  great 
where  it  exists.  The  call  of  God  to  it  is  strong. 
But  ours  with  our  native  American  stock  is  a  far 
easier  one. 

The  Great  Development,  the  Great  Need,  the 
Peculiar  Access  point  to  the  Great  Opportunity  in 


15 


North  Carolina  today.  Shall  the  church  of  God 
keep  pace  with  the  development  in  agriculture 
and  manufactures  and  roads  and  education?  The 
state  goes  forward  with  tremendous  strides.  We 
must  not  fail.  We  must  keep  pace.  We  can  do  it 
in  His  name. 

WTe  have  the  best  possible  organization  of  mis- 
sion work  to  do  it  with  and  the  movement  is  on. 

Let  us  study  then  our  fine  system  of  mission 
work  and  the  movement. 

THE  GREAT  SYSTEM  OF  MISSION 

WORK 

How  shall  we  meet  our  great  opportunity?  We 
believe  with  the  best  possible  system  of  mission 
work.  Our  whole  Presbyterian  system  is  based  on 
the  power  which  comes  from  God's  Spirit  through 
His  people.  It  comes  not  down  to  us  through  Pope 
or  Council  or  General  Assembly  or  any  church  court. 
Given  of  God's  Spirit  to  His  people  it  comes  up 
from  them  and  by  them  is  delegated  to  the  church 
courts  above. 

So  in  all  our  church  work,  the  responsibility 
begins  not  with  the  General  Assembly  or  any  church 
court,  but  with  the  individual. 

The  foundation  stone  of  all  our  mission  work 
is  then 

PERSONAL  EVANGELISM 

It  is  the  greatest  dormant  force  in  the  church  of 
God  today.  The  personal  responsibility  for  the 
man,  the  woman,  the  boy,  the  girl,  that  is  next  to 


16 


me,  whom  I  can  personally  influence.  When  God's 
people  hear  this  call,  the  Master  speaking  to  me, 
"I  have  chosen  you  and  ordained  you  that  ye 
should  go, *'  and  simply  and  honestly  will  under- 
take to  bring  the  one  next,  to  Christ,  then  the 
solution  of  winning  the  world  for  Christ  will  be 
begun.  There  are  signs  of  its  growth.  In  an 
honest  sane  way  men  are  going  after  men  and 
banding  themselves  together  to  do  this  thing. 

This  is  the  great  solution  and  the  foundation  of 
the  whole  system.  No  action  of  church  courts,  no 
work  of  Home  Mission  Committee  can  take  its 
place. 

CONGREGATIONAL  HOME  MISSIONS 

The  chief  purpose  of  the  congregation  is  its 
mission  work.  That  is  not  just  the  statement  of  a 
mission  secretary.  The  Master  says  it  was  his  pur- 
pose:— "I  have  chosen  you  and  ordained  you  that 
ye  should  go."  We  exist  as  a  congregation  not 
first  for  culture,  but  first  for  extension,  and  the 
spiritual  culture  comes  with  it.  It  is  just  an  organ- 
ization of  individuals  to  do  together  better  what 
could  not  be  done  as  well  separately.  The  church 
that  does  not  catch  this  vision  misses  its  mission. 
Not  simply  the  mission  work  done  by  agencies 
which  we  support  with  our  money  and  even  with 
cur  prayer,  but  first  of  all  the  mission  work  in 
physical  reach.  Scarcely  a  church  so  small  but 
that  it  can  open  work  in  some  adjacent  community 
where  it  is  needed,  and  where  the  members  them- 
selves put  their  own  personal  labour  into  it. 

Congregational  Home  Missions  is  thus  finely 
worked  in  some  of  our  churches.    One  pastor  of  a 


17 


good  active,  wide-awake  church  in  the  county  which 
reports  the  largest  percentage  of  people  out  of  the 
church  in  the  state,  reported  recently  12  Sunday 
Schools  being  run  by  his  peojjle  or  planned  to  be 
organized  and  run  bv  them.    Here,  too,  is  a  tre- 

<ZT  w  7  7 

mendous  dormant  force. 

We  can  lay  it  down  as  a  rule  that  so  far  as  pos- 
sible every  church  ought  to  finance  and  control 
the  mission  work  in  geographic  reach  and  not  to 
call  on  the  Presbvter^'  for  aid  to  do  the  work  which 
thev  can  do  themselves.  Thev  are  the  ones  first 
responsible  for  it. 

Many  churches  are  now  engaged  actively  in 
this  work.  Last  year  they  reported  S44.S15.00  ex- 
pended in  this  wav  in  the  Svnod. 

PRESS YTERIAL  HOME  MISSIONS 

Just  as  the  individuals  organized  into  a  church 
can  do  better  work,  which  could  not  be  so  well  done 
by  them  separatelv.  so  the  work  of  the  churches  is 
organized  in  the  Presbvterv.  It  stimulates  the 
work  of  the  congregations.  It  does  the  work  be- 
tween the  bounds  of  the  congregations  which  they 
themselves  could  not  reach.  Through  it  the 
stronger  churches  help  support  the  weaker  so  that 
the  whole  Presbytery  can  advance  together. 

Total  of  Presbyterial  Home  Missions. 

Presbvterial  Home  Missions  makes  a  fine  show- 
ing  when  the  work  of  all  seven  of  the  Presbyteries 
is  combined. 

In  all  for  the  vear  closing  with  the  1922  Svnod 
they  aided  from  their  own  funds  211  of  their 
churches  in  the  support  of  their  work,  in  charge  of 


18 


115  workers,  mainly  ordained  ministers,  bnt  includ- 
ing seminary  students  and  Sunday  School  workers, 
men  and  trained  women.  These  workers  served 
113  other  mission  stations.  1546  were  added  to  the 
churches  in  their  work,  upon  profession  of  faith. 
They  organized  36  new  Sunday  Schools  and  14 
churches  and  expended  of  their  own  funds  $61,024 
for  Presbyterial  Home  Missions. 

In  no  Synod  of  our  church  are  the  Presbyteries 
better  organized  for  a  more  aggressive  work. 

The  Synod's  Committee  in  all  its  34  years  his- 
tory has  always  aimed  to  push  the  Presbytery  to 
the  front,  in  no  case  and  in  no  department  to  take 
the  place  of  the  Presbytery's  work,  but  to  work 
back  of  the  Presbytery  and  through  it,  on  the 
foundation  principle  of  all  our  work  that  the  re- 
sponsibility for  and  the  financing  and  control  of 
all  our  mission  work  should  be  kept  as  close  to  the 
base  as  possible: 

First,  personal  work;  then  the  work  of  the  con- 
gregations; next  that  of  the  Presbyteries;  then 

SYNODICAL  HOME  MISSIONS 

The  year  1888  was  a  memorable  one  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  North  Carolina. 
In  that  year  at  the  meeting  of  the  Synod  at  Golds- 
boro  two  great  movements  were  inaugurated: 
Barium  Springs  Orphanage  and  Synodical  Home 
Missions. 

As  we  look  backward  it  seems  the  beginning  of 
a  new  era  and  these  movements  grew  out  of  the 
awakening  of  a  new  evangelistic  aggressive  spirit. 
The  same  spirit  began  to  show  itself  in  the  awaken- 


19 


ing  of  the  Presbyteries  to  a  new  aggressive  work 
of  which  evangelism  has  been  the  keynote. 

With  the  passing  of  the  years  this  movement 
has  grown  and  deepened  and  the  aggressiveness  of 
the  church  in  North  Carolina  is  the  feature  of  our 
church  life  today.  So  it  was  that  Synodical  Home 
Missions  found  its  place  in  our  great  system. 

Its  place  is 

1.  To  stimulate  the  work  in  all  its  bounds. 
This  is  done  by  gathering  and  disseminating  infor- 
mation as  to  the  conditions  and  need;  by  devising 
plans  and  initiating  movements  in  the  Presbyter- 
ies, as  the  survey  made  in  the  summer  of  1922. 

2.  It  unifies  and  co-ordinates  the  work  of  all 
the  Presbyteries  so  that  the  strongest  parts  of  the 
Synod  will  line  up  with  the  weakest  in  a  unified 
forward  movement. 

In  some  parts  of  the  church,  especially  in  the 
weaker  Synods,  this  is  done  by  the  Assembly's  work. 
In  North  Carolina  this  is  done  through  the  Synod 
upon  the  same  principle  upon  which  our  whole  sys- 
tem is  established:  to  keep  the  responsibility  for, 
and  the  financing  and  control  of,  the  work  as  near 
the  base  as  possible. 

This  was  expressed  in  the  memorable  action  of 
the  Synod  at  Durham  in  1891: 

"Synod  recognizes  that  upon  it  and  upon  its 
Presbyteries  is  laid  the  responsibility  for  the  evan- 
gelization of  its  territory,  and  in  humble  reliance 
upon  the  Head  of  the  Church,  receives  this  trust 
from  His  hand  and  pledges  itself  to  its  faithful 
prosecution. ' ' 


20 


3.  It  presents  to  God's  people  the  distinct  ap- 
peal of  a  state  wide  interest  for  their  support.  The 
work  about  your  own  church  has  its  own  strong 
appeal.  Some  even  can  see  it  when  they  cannot 
see  beyond  it.  It  should  be  used  to  the  utmost. 
The  Presbytery  has  its  appeal.  We  would  not  de- 
tract one  particle  from  it.  Let's  put  the  claims  of 
its  work  the  very  strongest  before  our  people.  But 
in  addition  old  North  Carolina  has  its  big  appeal 
for  the  redemption  of  the  whole  state.  More  will 
be  given  by  God 's  people,  and  given  freely  and  will- 
ingly, if  the  needs  of  the  Presbytery,  and  of  the 
whole  state,  are  presented,  than  would  be  given  to 
either  alone,  no  matter  how  urgently  put.  This  gen- 
eral fund  given  in  response  to  the  state  wide  appeal 
is  then  expended  in  every  part  of  the  Synod,  where 
it  is  needed  most,  the  whole  work  is  unified  and 
advances  together  and,  aided  as  every  Presbytery 
is  from  the  Synod's  fund,  it  has  more  for  the  work 
in  its  territory  than  it  would  from  the  appeal  for 
Presbyterial  Home  Missions  alone.  This  is  history 
— not  theory. 

There  is  great  force  in  unification.  The  Ger- 
man government  and  army  had  it  developed  to  the 
limit.  In  unification  it  was  the  most  powerful  gov- 
ernment and  army  on  earth.  But  its  weakness  was 
that  it  destroyed  initiative  in  its  units.  We  want 
to  get  the  power  there  is  in  unification.  That  is 
the  purpose  of  the  Synod's  work.  But  we  want  to 
guard  with  scrupulous  care  and  press  to  the  very 
utmost  the  initiative — in  the  individual,  in  the  con- 
gregation, in  the  Presbytery.  In  the  combination 
of  the  two  lies  the  strength  of  our  North  Carolina 
system.    The   development   of   both   together  has 


21 


given  its  work  its  great  enlargement  and  its  present 
standing. 

The  Organization  of  the  Synod's  Work. 

Carrying  out  the  original  idea  of  the  Synod's 
work  as  just  a  unification  of  the  work  of  the  Pres- 
byteries, the  foundation  of  its  Home  Mission  Com- 
mittee is  the  chairmen  of  the  Home  Mission  Com- 
mittees of  the  several  seven  Presbyteries.  To 
these  seven  are  added  one  elder  from  each  Pres- 
bytery elected  or  re-elected  by  the  Synod  at  each 
annual  meeting,  for  the  ensuing  year.  To  these 
14  are  added  the  two  general  evangelists  of  the 
Synod.  Then  the  superintendents  of  the  Presby- 
teries where  they  are  not  chairmen  of  the  Presby- 
teries' Committees,  five  in  number,  namely:  Mr. 
Crane  of  Albemarle,  Dr.  Clark  of  Concord,  Mr. 
Smith  of  Fayetteville,  Mr.  Daniels  of  Mecklenburg, 
Mr.  Murray  of  Wilmington.  To  these  19  are  added 
the  chairman  of  the  Synod's  Committee  of  Sunday 
Schools  and  Young  People's  Work,  which  is  affili- 
ated with  the  Home  Mission  Committee,  Eev.  J.  G. 
Garth,  and  the  Synod's  superintendent  of  that 
work,  Mr.  C.  T.  Carr.  The  superintendent  of 
Synodical  Home  Missions  has  from  the  beginning 
been  chairman  of  the  committee,  making  22  mem- 
bers in  all. 

This  large  committee  meets  in  regular  annual 
session  just  before  the  meeting  of  Synod  in  October; 
occasionally  in  special  meetings  at  the  call  of  the 
chairman. 

At  the  regular  annual  meetings  the  large  com- 
mittee gathers  from  every  Presbytery  from  every 
part  of  the  state  and  the  sessions  cover  a  full  day. 
Every  department  of  the  work  of  the  year  is  re- 

22 


viewed,  a  report  prepared  for  Synod  and  plans  made 
for  the  ensuing  year.  Then  a  smaller  executive 
committee  is  appointed  by  the  general  committee 
and  it  meets  quarterly  for  the  careful  oversight  of 
all  the  work. 

The  Force. 

1.  The  Superintendent.  From  the  beginning 
the  policy  has  been  to  place  the  responsibility  for 
the  conduct  of  the  work  largely  on  one  man  who 
should  give  his  whole  time  and  energy  to  it,  the 
superintendent.  He  is  elected  or  re-elected  an- 
nually by  the  Synod.  The  superintendent  has  al- 
ways been  chairman  of  the  committee  and  has  the 
general  management  of  the  work.  He  is  treasurer 
and  entrusted  with  the  raising  and  disbursing  of 
the  Synodical  Home  Mission  fund.  He  is  the  sec- 
retary of  the  committee  and  has  charge  of  all  the 
records.  He  is  also  General  Evangelist  of  the 
Svnod. 

This  list  of  those  who  have  served  the  Synod 
in  this  office  in  the  34  years  of  the  work  will  be  of 
interest  to  many.  The  first  year  there  was  no 
formal  superintendent,  but  the  work  was  directed 

by 

Eev.  J.  W.  Primrose,  D.  D.,  chairman,  1889. 

Then  the  superintendents  in  order  as  follows: 

Eev.  Alexander  Sprunt,  D.  D.,  two  years  to  1891. 
Eev.  Egbert  W.  Smith,  D.  D.,  two  years  to  1893. 
Eev.  William  Black,  D.  D.,  three  years  to  1896. 
Eev.  A.  J.  McKelway,  D.  D.,  two  years  to  1898. 
Eev.  E.  E.  Gillespie,  D.  D.,  six  years  to  1904. 
Eev.  E.  P.  Smith,  D.  D.,  four  years  to  1908. 


23 


Eev.  M.  McG.  Shields,  five  and  one-half  vears 
to  March.  1914. 

Eev.  A.  W.  Crawford,  nine  vears  to  the  present 
time. 

2.    The  General  Evangelists  of  the  Synod. 

Through  the  General  Evangelists  it  has  been 
the  policy  from  the  beginning  to  press  the  work  of 
evangelism  throughout  the  Synod,  providing  for  the 
strong  churches  service  the  equal  of  any,  and  for 
the  weakest  mission  fields  the  same  high  character 
of  service  that  the  stronger  churches  could  secure 
for  themselves.  A  definite  number  of  series  of 
evangelistic  services  is  allotted  to  each  Presbvterv. 
Keeping  the  Presbytery's  Committee  to  the  front 
as  in  every  other  department,  arrangement  for  the 
services  is  committed  to  the  chairman  or  superin- 
tendent of  the  Presbytery,  the  Synod 's  superinten- 
dent and  the  Synod's  evangelist,  working  together. 

Our  General  Evangelists  are  now  two:  Eev. 
William  Black.  D.  D..  and  Eev.  Leonard  Gill. 

Rev.  William  Black.  D.  D.,  has  been  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  Synod  since  1S94,  three  years  as  super- 
intendent, and  continuouslv  since  as  our  honored 
and  beloved  General  Evangelist.  He  has  held  evan- 
gelistic services  in  every  part  of  the  state  in  lit- 
erallv  hundreds  of  churches.  His  labours  have  been 
greatly  blessed  of  God  and  thousands  have  been 
bi  ought  into  the  Kingdom  of  God  under  his  preach- 
ing. Seemingly  handicapped  greatly  by  impaired 
eyesight,  actual  statistics  of  his  work  show  the 
latter  vears  of  his  labours  have  been  the  most 
fruitful  of  any  period  of  his  long  service. 

Rev.  Leonard  Gill,  formerly  superintendent  for 
Mecklenburg  Presbvterv.  is  in  his  third  vear  of 

24 


service  of  the  Synod  and  his  labours  have  been 
greatly  and  increasingly  fruitful. 

The  whole  Synod  is  indebted  to  God  for  the 
faithful  and  fruitful  service  our  two  General  Evan- 
gelists are  rendering.  Last  Synod  ?s  year  57  of  the 
508  churches  of  the  Synod  had  their  services,  re- 
sulting in  886  additions  to  these  churches  upon  pro- 
fession of  faith  and  111  by  letter. 

3.    The  Men  in  the  Local  Fields  of  the  Pres- 
byteries. 

Of  the  approximately  250  pastors  in  charge  of 
churches  and  evangelists  in  mission  territory  in  the 
Synod,  60  ordained  ministers  and  10  seminary  stu- 
dents for  summer  work  were  supported  wholly  or 
in  part  the  last  Synod's  year  by  the  Synod's  funds. 
In  addition  there  were  14  Sunday  School  mission- 
aries, 4  men,  and  10  women,  working  especially  in 
the  mill  villages.  Through  these  local  evangelists 
we  aided  in  the  support  of  the  work  of  135  of  the 
508  churches  of  the  Synod  besides  99  other  mission 
points.  This  indicates  how  widespread  the  work 
of  the  Synod's  Committee  is,  in  every  Presbytery, 
in  every  part  of  the  Synod.  Through  the  meetings 
of  the  General  Evangelists  and  the  work  of  the 
men  in  the  local  fields  177  of  our  508  churches  were 
served  and  1709  added  to  these  churches  on  profes- 
sion of  faith  besides  358  by  letter,  and  19  new  Sun- 
day Schools  and  12  churches  were  organized. 

This,  not  as  a  work  independent  from  the  Pres- 
byteries as  a  whole,  or  in  any  part,  but  in  co-opera- 
tion with  them  in  every  part,  placing  men  as  re- 
quested by  them,  adding  to  salaries  of  men  in  the 
field   supported  in   part   by  Presbytery's  funds; 


25 


helping  wherever  help  was  needed  and  declining  no 
application  from  a  Presbytery  for  assistance,  urg- 
ing them  forward  and  promising  the  help  of  the 
whole  Synod  so  far  as  needed  in  every  advance 
movement. 

The  beauty  of  it  all  has  been  that  under  this 
system  every  Presbytery  has  made  the  finest  growth 
in  its  own  Presbyterial  Home  Mission  work.  There 
is  not  a  laggard  among  them.  The  more  unstinted 
the  Synod's  support  of  their  work  has  been,  the 
greater  has  been  their  own  initiative  and  hand  in 
hand  the  Synod  and  Presbyteries  are  working  for 
the  taking  of  this  great  land  we  love  for  Christ. 

Total  Home  Mission  Work  in  the  Synod's  Bounds. 

Combining  the  work  of  the  Synod  and  of  the 
Presbyteries  in  the  year  closing  with  Synod  1922, 
139  or  fully  one-half  of  all  our  ministers  in  the 
active  work  of  the  church  were  engaged  in  its  mis- 
sion fields  and  299  of  our  50S  churches  were  aided 
in  the  support  of  their  work  by  our  mission  funds. 
There  were  2152  additions  to  these  churches  on 
profession  of  faith  out  of  a  total  of  3691  for  the 
whole  Synod  as  reported  in  the  Assembly's  min- 
utes of  1922  for  a  vear.  Adding  the  amount  ex- 
pended  by  the  congregations  for  Congregational 
Home  Missions,  the  total  amount  expended  on  our 
home  mission  work  in  the  Svnod's  bounds  for  a 
year  was  $158,395. 

ASSEMBLY'S  HOME  MISSIONS 

Upon  the  basis  of  the  action  of  the  Synod  at 
Durham  in  1891  when  getting  our  Synodical  Home 
Mission  work  into  operation: — that  upon  the  Synod 
and  its  Presbyteries  first  is  laid  the  responsibility 

26 


for  the  evangelization  of  its  own  territory — we 
have  gone  forward  with  our  task.  In  doing  it  we 
should  never  lose  sight,  however,  of  the  tremen- 
dous responsibility  laid  on  the  General  Assembly's 
Committee  in  its  great  task.  They  are  entitled  to 
our  unstinted  support  in  their  great  work  especially 
in  the  weaker  (Synods.  16%  of  all  our  benevolent 
contributions  are  assigned  for  the  Assembly's  work 
and  should  not  be  infringed  on.  The  task  of  the 
whole  church  is  one  and  though  we  work  in  our 
own  place  in  our  own  territory,  only  as  we  support 
the  Assembly's  work  can  the  church  advance  as  a 
whole  in  our  great  southland. 

A  GREAT  MOVEMENT 

A  movement  is  on  in  North  Carolina  today 
unlike  anything  we  know  elsewhere  in  our  church, 
a  deliberate  attempt  to  man  our  whole  territory  and 
place  the  work  of  our  church  in  every  place  in  the 
state  where  there  is  need  of  it.    It  began  in  1917-18. 

For  30  years,  since  1888,  when  the  awakening 
spirit  of  evangelism  expressed  itself  in  the  in- 
auguration of  Synodical  Home  Missions,  and  in  a 
new  development  in  the  work  of  all  the  Presbyteries, 
from  one  aspect  the  church  had  been  making  re- 
markable growth,  uniformly  2y2  times  the  percent- 
age of  growth  of  the  population.  It  was  a  mar- 
velous blessing  of  God  upon  a  small  amount  of 
effort  expended.  But  openings  for  aggressive  ad- 
vance work  were  upon  every  side,  into  which  we 
were  not  entering,  and  a  large  part  of  our  effort 
was  expended  in  holding  back  to  keep  from  debt, 


27 


when  the  call  of  God  for  advance  and  the  pressure 
from  the  need  in  the  open  fields  upon  every  side 
was  almost  irresistible. 

With  mature  deliberation  and  much  conference 
and  earnest  prayer  we  came  to  this:  Would  it  not 
be  possible  for  us  in  Xorth  Carolina  to  face  our 
whole  task,  to  rind  just  what  God  has  for  us  as  a 
church  to  do  today  and  to  make  an  honest  effort 
to  do  it? 

A  fine  response  came  from  every  side.  Min- 
isters and  prominent  laymen  said:  Do  it.  Ee- 
sponse  from  the  churches  to  the  appeal  on  this  basis 
showed  immediate  and  large  increase.  The  move- 
ment was  on. 

The  Synod  meeting  at  Ealeigh  in  October,  1919, 
gave  this  expression  to  it: 

"We  do  now  therefore  undertake,  in  co-opera- 
tion with  the  Presbyteries,  to  place  at  the  earliest 
possible  day  a  man  in  every  field  in  the  bounds 
of  the  Synod  where  there  is  an  evident  need  for 
the  work  of  our  church.'' 

Since  the  appeal  was  made  on  this  basis  from 
1918  to  this  time  the  Synod 's  Committee  has  not 
had  to  decline  a  single  request  from  the  Presby- 
teries for  its  support  in  any  advance  work.  The 
number  of  those  aided  in  the  local  work  by  the 
Synod's  Committee  has  increased  from  33  in  1918 
to  84  in  1922,  and  contributions  for  the  support  of 
the  work  of  the  Synod  increased  as  follows: 

1916  $13,154 

1917  15,416 

1918  18,038 


28 


1919  28,358 

1920  36,542 

1921  41,563 

1922  48,136 

1923,  our  budget  of  appropriations  runs  to 
$60,000. 

The  receipts  of  Presbyterial  Home  Missions  in- 
creased in  like  proportion  and  their  work  and  the 
Synod 's  work  grew  together. 

The  movement  is  on  and  has  passed  the  prelimi- 
nary stages.  We  are  now  where  the  whole  prob- 
lem and  our  high  resolve  has  to  be  faced  in  big 
fashion  and  put  over.  We  are  trying  to  do  it  delib- 
erately and  in  sane  business  way. 

We  had  to  know  as  definitely  as  possible  what 
our  task  is.    Hence  the 

Survey. 

At  the  request  of  the  Synod's  Committee  it  was 
made  in  the  Presbyteries  in  the  summer  of  1922  as 
indicated  in  the  exhibit  of  each  Presbytery  in  the 
following  pages.  The  reports  were  made  to  Synod 
from  every  Presbytery.  Some  were  full  and 
exhaustive.  Some  of  the  estimates  are  low.  But 
together  they  give  us  a  good  safe  working  basis 
upon  which  to  plan  the  advance. 

Together  they  indicate  41  fields  in  the  bounds 
of  the  Synod  where  we  need  to  place  men  now,  and 
the  way  is  open  and  the  call  of  God  is  clear.  The 
additional  cost  is  estimated  at  about  $60,000  an- 
nually for  the  Synod  and  Presbyteries  combined, 
perhaps  about  half  that  amount  each. 


29 


It  means  just  the  full  amount  apportioned  to  the 
churches  in  the  regular  budget  for  Presbyterial 
and  for  Synodical  Home  Missions,  but  it  does  mean 
all  of  it. 

$75,000.00  is  now  apportioned  in  the  budget  for 
Synodical  Home  Missions  or  10%  of  all  our  benev- 
olent contributions.  We  will  need  every  dime  of 
it,  from  the  churches,  the  auxiliaries,  the  Sunday 
Schools,  the  Y.  P.  Societies. 

Churches  and  Manses. 

The  reports  of  the  Presbyteries  indicate  further 
what  we  must  face  to  put  the  movement  over.  28 
organized  churches  and  12  other  mission  fields  now 
without  buildings  and  needing  them,  and  50  fields, 
mostly  mission  fields,  without  manses  or  homes  for 
those  who  man  the  work.  If  we  go  forward  this 
number  will  be  rapidly  and  largely  increased.  This 
need  for  equipment  of  the  work  cannot  be  met  from 
the  regular  budget,  but  we  can  make  little  or  no 
true  advance  without  housing  the  work.  The 
Synod  of  1922  appointed  a  special  committee  with 
Dr.  Foster,  of  Winston,  as  chairman,  to  study  this 
problem  and  formulate  for  the  Synod  of  1923  some 
plan  to  meet  it. 

Affiliation  of  the  Synod's  Home  Mission  Committee 
and  the  Synod's  Committee  of  Sunday  Schools 
and  Y.  P.  Work. 

The  committees  are  distinct  but  the  work  is 
intimately  connected  and  the  lines  between  cannot 
be  clearly  drawn.  The  mission  workers  supported 
wholly  or  in  part  by  the  Synod 's  Committee  have 
in  the  34  years  of  its  history  organized  275  Sun- 

30 


day  Schools  in  North  Carolina,  70  of  them  in  the 
last  three  years  in  the  new  movement. 

It  has  aided  each  year  in  the  expense  of  the 
Y.  P.  conferences. 

On  the  other  hand  the  Sunday  School  work  is 
one  of  the  greatest  factors  in  the  extension  of  the 
mission  work. 

Because  so  intimately  related  in  the  great  move- 
ment now  going  forward,  the  1922  Synod,  without 
uniting  the  two  committees,  affiliated  them,  so  they 
could  work  together.  The  chairman  of  each  com- 
mittee is  a  member  of  the  other.  Appropriations 
for  the  work  of  the  Sunday  School  and  Y.  P.  Com- 
mittee in  North  Carolina  are  made  by  the  Home 
Mission  Committee,  and  the  contributions  of  the 
Sunday  Schools  and  Y.  P.  Societies  go  through  the 
Home  Mission  Committee  for  the  North  Carolina 
work. 

So  are  both  the  better  organized  for  the  Great 
Advance  Movement. 

The  Great  Development,  the  Great  Need,  the 
Peculiar  Access,  the  Great  System,  the  Movement 
Begun  Constitute  our  Great  Opportunity. 

The  work  is  mapped  out  along  definite  sane  bus- 
iness lines  and  our  definite  task  is  before  us.  Why 
cannot  this  definite  thing  of  placing  the  work  of 
our  church  in  every  field  in  the  bounds  of  the 
Synod  where  there  is  a  need  for  the  work  of  our 
church  be  done  and  be  done  now?  God  has  blessed 
all  out  of  proportion  what  we  have  done.  The 
cost  is  not  unreasonable  and  not  to  be  named  be- 
sides the  amounts  we,  as  a  people,  are  putting  up 
for  every  other  part  of  our  advance.  Shall  we  not 
do  what  needs  to  be  done  to  place  the  church  we 

31 


lcve  in  the  place  G-od  calls  us  to  occupy,  and  to  do 
what  lies  before  us  now — the  present    task,  today? 

Xow  while  the  state  is  moving  with  such  tre- 
mendous strides  in  all  else:  vow  while  we  have 
the  access  and  have  our  own  native  people  to  deal 
with,  before  the  tides  of  immigration  bring  a  peo- 
ple infinitely  harder  to  reach  and  conditions  of 
social  unrest  and  upheaval  infinitely  harder  to 
overcome.  Xow  before  the  tides  of  destructive 
criticism  destrovs  the  vitalitv  of  our  churches,  and 
isms  of  everv  old  and  new  breed  take  awav  bv  the 
thousands  those  now  accessible  to  us. 

And  if  we  will  do  this  thing  may  not  Xorth 
Carolina^  already  the  strongest  Synod  in  our  church, 
be  made  a  great  stronghold  for  America,  and  so  for 
the  world,  exerting  a  staying  conservative  influ- 
ence in  all  the  great  upheavals  and  struggles  of 
coining  vears  in  our  own  land,  and  sending  forth 
a  power  and  support  to  the  battle  with  heathenism 
in  the  far  lands  beyond  anything  we  now  know? 

This  is  not  a  dream,  but  a  vision,  based  on  the 
facts  set  forth  and  the  power  and  the  promise  of 
God. 

THIS  IS  THE  GEE  AT  OPPOETUXITT. 

North  Carolina  is  the  best  field  for  our  church 
in  America  today. 

Did  not  then  the  1922  Svnod  at  Lincolnton  do 
well  when,  upon  Home  Mission  night,  after  a  few 
earnest  talks,  with  deeu  solemnitv  and  evident  feel- 
ing,  by  a  rising  vote,  it  adopted  this  resolution: 

"With  the  facts  of  the  survey,  just  made,  defi- 
nitely before  us,  we  accept  the  call  therein  as  our 


32 


appointed  task.  In  humble  reliance  upon  G-od  we 
resolve  to  undertake  the  whole  of  it,  with,  the 
Presbyteries;  we  challenge  them  to  meet  us  in  the 
supreme  endeavor;  and  we  call  upon  the  church  in 
North  Carolina  to  sustain  us  in  it: — Until  we  have 
carried  through  our  resolution  of  1919,  and  placed 
a  man  in  every  field  in  the  bounds  of  the  Synod 
where  there  is  an  evident  need  for  the  work  of  our 
church. '  * 

Upon  this  basis  the  Home  Mission  Committee 
of  the  Synod  is  now  going  forward.  It  is  aiding 
the  Presbyteries  in  placing  new  men  in  the  fields 
as  fast  as  we  can  find  them.  Its  appropriations 
have  gone  to  $60,000  and  will  go  to  the  $75,000 
assigned  to  the  churches  for  the  support  of  the 
work  as  rapidly  as  the  men  are  secured.  We  are 
doing  it  with  confidence  in  God  and  in  his  people, 
and  we  are  calling  on  them  to  sustain  us  in  it. 


33 


THE  PRESBYTERIES 


The  North  Carolina  Presbyteries  are  doing  a 
most  aggressive  work.  We  give  a  brief  account  of 
each. 

Albemarle. 

Albemarle  Presbytery  covers  the  northeast  part 
of  the  state.  It  extends  from  Kaleigh  to  the  Albe- 
marle Sound  and  south  as  far  as  New  Bern.  It 
covers  the  largest  territory  of  any  of  the  seven 
Presbyteries  and  contains  30  counties,  in  12  of 
which  there  are  no  Presbyterian  churches.  Some 
of  these  counties  are  well  churched,  but  in  others 
there  are  fine  openings  for  our  work.  In  this  vast 
territory  we  have  50  churches.  Of  these  21  are 
aided  in  the  support  of  their  work  from  the  Home 
Mission  funds  of  the  Presbytery  and  Synod.  Only 
11  of  the  50  churches  have  a  pastor  for  his  whole 
time.  There  are  32  mission  stations  where  there  is 
no  organized  church.  With  a  large  number  of  mis- 
sion churches  this  Presbytery  is  doing  a  fine  ag- 
gressive mission  work.  They  expended  of  their 
own  funds  in  the  year  closing  with  Synod  1922, 
$5,243  for  Presbyterial  Home  Missions. 

Eev.  A.  J.  Crane,  of  Tarboro,  is  the  superin- 
tendent of  Presbyterial  Home  Missions.  In  the 
survey  made  in  the  summer  of  1922  he  reported 
seven  new  fields  needing  men  and  ready  to  be 
entered  now,  and  six  organized  churches  and  one 
mission  station  needing  church  buildings  and  seven 
fields  without  manses.  The  religious  census  of  1916 
reported  180,360  persons  ten  years  old  and  over 
in  this  Presbytery  without  any  church  connection 
or  about  39%  of  all  old  enough. 

35 


Wilmington. 

Wilmington  Presbytery  covers  ten  counties  in 
the  southeast,  south  of  Goldsboro  and  New  Bern 
and  from  Sampson,  Bladen  and  Columbus  Counties 
on  the  west  to  the  coast.  In  these  ten  counties 
the  census  reports  38%  of  those  ten  years  and  over 
with  no  church  connection,  in  number  59,595.  Under 
the  leadership  of  Eev.  J.  J.  Murray,  of  "Wilmington, 
the  superintendent  of  Presbyterial  Home  Missions, 
the  Presbytery  is  doing  a  vigorous  aggressive  work. 

There  are  66  Presbyterian  churches  in  these 
ten  counties,  only  six  of  which  have  a  pastor  for 
his  whole  time,  and  47  are  aided  by  the  Home  Mis- 
sion funds  of  Presbytery  and  Synod.  There  are  35 
mission  stations  where  there  is  no  organized  church. 
The  Presbytery  expended  of  its  own  funds  $6,465.00 
for  Presbyterial  Home  Missions  for  the  year  closing 
with  Synod  1922.  In  the  careful  survey  of  the 
Presbytery  reported  to  Synod  1922,  eleven  new 
fields  were  reported  needing  men  and  ready  to  be 
entered  now  and  five  organized  churches  and  eleven 
mission  stations  without  church  buildings,  and  eight 
fields  without  manses. 

Fayetteville. 

Fayetteville  Presbytery  covers  nine  counties: 
Eobeson,  Scotland,  Hoke,  Cumberland,  Moore,  Lee, 
Chatham,  Harnett,  Johnston,  lying  west  of  Wil- 
mington Presbytery  along  the  edge  of  the  Pied- 
mont and  the  coast  plains.  It  is  the  great  Cape  Fear 
Scotch  country.  It  has  the  largest  number  of 
churches  of  any  Presbytery  in  the  General  As- 
sembly, as  hard  to  count  as  the  cotton  mills  of 
Gaston  County  because  added  to  so  rapidly.  We 

36 


count  122  now,  but  that  will  probably  not  be  correct 
by  the  time  this  gets  off  the  press.  Only  eleven 
of  this  great  number  have  a  pastor  for  all  his 
time,  and  49  are  aided  in  the  support  of  their  work 
by  the  Home  Mission  funds  of  Presbytery  and 
Synod.  There  are  30  mission  stations  where  there 
is  no  organized  church.  Eev.  L.  Smith,  of  Fayette- 
ville,  is  the  superintendent  of  Presbyterial  Home 
Missions. 

The  Presbytery  expended  of  its  own  funds 
$9,782.00  for  Presbyterial  Home  Missions  for  the 
year  closing  with  Synod  1922.  Seven  organized 
churches  have  no  church  building  and  eight  fields 
have  no  manse. 

Mecklenburg. 

Mecklenburg  Presbytery  covers  six  counties  in 
the  centre  of  the  state  east  and  west  and  on  the 
south  border  in  the  Piedmont  country,  namely: 
Mecklenburg,  Union,  Stanly,  Montgomery,  Anson, 
Eichmond.  In  the  census  Mecklenburg  Presbytery 
makes  a  better  report  than  most  of  the  other  Pres- 
byteries of  the  Synod  for  church  membership,  yet 
44,021,  or  34  4/10%  of  those  ten  years  and  older,  are 
out  of  the  church,  and  the  need  is  great  in  some 
sections  of  these  counties. 

There  are  86  Presbyterian  churches  in  these 
six  counties,  17  of  which  have  a  pastor  for  his 
whole  time  and  46  are  aided  in  support  of  their 
work  by  the  Home  Mission  funds  of  the  Presbytery 
and  Synod.  There  are  also  11  mission  stations 
where  there  is  no  organized  church.  The  Presby- 
tery expended  of  its  own  funds  $14,196  for  Pres- 
byterial Home  Missious  in  the  year  closing  with 


37 


Synod.  Six  new  fields  were  reported  needing  men 
and  ready  to  be  entered  now,  four  organized 
churches  needing  buildings,  and  ten  fields  without 
manses. 

Eev.  M.  F.  Daniels,  Charlotte,  N.  C,  is  the 
superintendent  of  Presbyterial  Home  Missions. 

Kings  Mountain. 

Kings  Mountain  Presbytery  is  the  little  sister 
of  all  the  seven  Presbyteries.  It  covers  five  coun- 
ties lying  west  of  Mecklenburg,  along  the  southern 
side  of  the  state,  extending  to  the  Blue  Eidge 
Mountains.  The  counties  are  Gaston,  Lincoln, 
Cleveland,  Eutherford  and  Polk.  The  religious 
census  1916  shows  33,385,  or  34  1/10%,  of  those 
ten  years  and  older,  out  of  the  church,  a  large  part 
of  whom  are  in  the  immense  mill  settlements  of 
Gaston  County,  with  its  103  cotton  mills. 

There  are  39  Presbyterian  churches  in  these  five 
counties,  seven  of  which  have  a  pastor  for  his  whole 
time  and  25  churches  are  aided  in  the  support  of 
their  work  by  the  Home  Mission  funds  of  Presby- 
tery and  Synod.  Two  churches  have  no  church 
building  and  two  fields  have  no  manse. 

The  Presbytery  expended  of  its  own  funds  $2,951 
for  Presbyterial  Home  Missions  in  the  year  closing 
with  Synod  1922.  Kings  Mountain  is  the  only 
Presbytery  which  does  not  have  a  superintendent 
of  Presbyterial  Home  Missions.  Eev.  J.  H.  Hen- 
derlite,  D.  D.,  the  pastor  of  the  Gastonia  church, 
is  the  efficient  chairman  of  the  Home  Mission  Com- 
mittee of  the  Presbytery. 

In  and  about  Gastonia  we  have  the  finest  illus- 
tration of  the  fact  that  the  Presbyterian  church 


38 


is  for  those  in  the  mills  as  for  every  other  people — 
if  only  we  go  to  them  in  the  right  sympathetic  and 
aggressive  way.  The  fine  Armstrong  Memorial  Sun- 
day School  in  the  work  of  Eev.  Geo.  E.  Gillespie, 
in  connection  with  the  First  Church,  Gastonia,  and 
the  aggressive,  growing  West  Avenue  Church,  under 
the  pastorate  of  Eev.  E.  C.  Long,  are  notable  ex- 
amples. 

Concord. 

Concord  Presbytery  is  the  middle  one  of  the 
three  Presbyteries  that  extend  from  the  central 
part  of  the  state  to  the  mountains.  From  the 
heart  of  the  Piedmont,  Cabarrus,  Eowan,  Davie 
and  Yadkin,  it  covers  Iredell,  Catawba,  Alexander, 
Caldwell,  Burke  and  McDowell,  ten  counties,  to 
the  mountains.  58,460,  or  32  7/10%  of  all,  ten 
years  and  over  out  of  the  church  in  the  1916  cen- 
sus. There  are  65  Presbyterian  churches  in  these 
ten  counties,  18  of  which  have  a  pastor  for  his 
whole  time  and  26  churches  are  aided  in  support 
of  their  work  by  the  Home  Mission  funds  of  the 
Presbytery  and  Synod.  There  are  also  17  mission 
stations  where  there  is  no  organized  church. 

The  Presbytery  expended  of  its  own  funds 
$12,921  for  Presbyterial  Home  Missions  for  the  year 
closing  with  Synod  1922.  A  very  careful  survey 
of  its  unoccupied  territory  was  made  in  the  summer 
of  1922.  Four  seminary  students  were  employed 
under  the  direction  of  the  Presbytery 's  superin- 
tendent and  a  careful  house  to  house  canvass  was 
made  in  the  unoccupied  sections.  The  result  of  the 
canvass  indicated  five  fields  of  special  promise 
needing  our  work  and  ready  for  men  as  soon  as 
we  can  place  them  there. 

39 


The  organized  churches  of  the  Presbytery  are 
well  supplied  with  church  buildings,  but  ten  of  the 
fields  of  the  Presbytery  are  without  manses. 

Eev.  J.  M.  Clark,  D.  D.,  Statesville,  N.  C,  is 
the  superintendent  of  Presbyterial  Home  Missions. 

Orange. 

Orange  Presbytery,  the  mother  Presbytery  of 
them  all,  stretches  across  the  north  side  of  the 
state  from  Durham,  west  to  the  state  line.  It  has 
a  large  territory  of  15  counties,  the  eastern  part 
in  the  fine  Piedmont  country,  with  three  of  the 
largest  cities  of  the  state,  Durham,  Greensboro  and 
Winston-Salem,  with  their  strong  churches,  the 
western  part  covering  the  mountain  country  to  the 
state  line.  Because  of  this  combination  it  is  the 
strongest  Presbytery  financially,  but  at  the  same 
time  it  has  the  largest  percentage  of  unchurched 
population  of  any  of  the  Presbyteries,  414/10% 
of  those  ten  years  and  over  being  reported  out 
of  the  church  in  the  1916  census.  In  number  this 
was  137,892,  only  surpassed  in  number  by  Albe- 
marle, the  great  mission  Presbytery,  with  its  30 
counties,  twice  the  number  of  Orange,  which  has 
180,360  without  church  membership. 

There  are  89  Presbyterian  churches  in  these  15 
counties,  24  of  which  have  a  pastor  for  his  whole 
time,  and  41  are  aided  in  the  support  of  their  work 
by  the  Home  Mission  funds  of  Presbytery  and 
Synod.  There  are  also  18  mission  points  where 
there  is  no  organized  church. 

The  Presbytery  expended  of  its  own  funds 
$9,564  for  Presyterial  Home  Missions  for  the  year 
closing  with  Synod  1922. 


40 


The  Presbytery  's  superintendent  reports  eight 
new  fields  needing  men  and  ready  to  be  occupied  as 
soon  as  men  can  be  secured.  Four  organized 
churches  are  without  buildings  and  five  fields  with- 
out manses. 

Eev.  S.  M.  Eankin,  Greensboro,  N.  C,  is  the 
superintendent  of  Presbyterial  Home  Missions. 

The  west  line  of  the  Presbyteries  of  the  North 
Carolina  Synod  runs  in  the  main  with  the  top  of 
the  Blue  Eidge  Mountains.  North  Carolina  beyond 
this  belongs  to  the  mountain  Synod  of  Appalachia, 
including  all  of  Asheville  Presbytery  and  the  coun- 
ties of  Watauga,  Avery,  Mitchell  and  Yancey,  for- 
merly in  Concord  Presbytery,  and  now  attached  to 
the  Presbytery  of  Holston  (Tennessee). 

Though  this  review  of  the  Presbyteries  is  neces- 
sarily brief  for  each,  in  the  study  of  the  work  in 
each  Presbytery  application  should  be  made  to  the 
Presbytery  ?s  superintendent  or  Home  Mission 
chairman  for  more  detailed  information. 

A  careful  study  in  each,  of  your  own  Presby- 
tery 's  work,  will  be  a  revelation  to  many  and  full 
of  deepest  interest. 


41 


f 

4 

I 


NORTH  CAROLINA— 

THE  GREAT  OPPORTUNITY 

This  little  booklet  has  been  prepared  with 
much  care  for  all  who  love  and  want  to  know 
North  Carolina,  and  especially  the  religious 
problems  which  we  face: 

For  the  ministers,  officers  and  members  of 
the  Presbyterian  church  that  we  may  have  an 
intelligent  grasp  of  the  task  which  God  has 
committed  to  our  trust: 

For  the  Auxiliaries,  the  Y.  P.  Societies, 
the  Sunday  Schools  as  a  handbook  for  care- 
ful study. 

The  study  of  the  facts  has  made  the  writer 
lift  his  head  with  a  new  pride  in  our  great 
state  as  it  lunges  forward  with  giant  strides 
of  achievement  in  every  line : 

It  has  appalled  him  with  a  fresh  revela- 
tion of  our  need — the  idle  power,  the  unused 
resources,  the  illiteracy;  truly — but  way  be- 
yond all,  the  great  unchurched  and  unsaved 
mass  of  men: 

It  has  humbled  him  with  something  like 
trembling  before  God  lest  His  church  fail  to 
see  and  to  grasp  her  opportunity  in  this  her 
Great  Day. 

We  believe  the  Facts  will  grip  you  as  they 
have  gripped  him. 

They  are  given  you  in  His  name. 


Any  number  of  additional  copies  can  be  secured  at  bare 
cost  of  printing  and  mailing,  5  cents,  by  addressing 
A.  W.  Crawford,  Supt., 
320  S.  Mendenhall, 
Greensboro,  N.  C. 


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